India and Japan today vowed for an ‘early conclusion’ of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement even though there are still a range of issues that need to be resolved for implementing the deal.
In a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s special envoy for Japan Ashwani Kumar and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo today it was decided that both sides will take the stalled negotiations forward, which began in 2010, and expedite the talks in order to conclude it early.
“India and Japan pledged to take forward the ongoing negotiations for an early conclusion of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,” said a statement issued by the ministry of external affairs (MEA).
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Last week Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi, who was on a two-day visit to India, had said that there are “several outstanding issues” facing the deal currently. He also said that the joint working group is trying to find out a solution so that the deal gets finalized soon.
One of the issues that has acted as a major deterrent from India’s side is Japan’s insistence on India signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). India, however, has maintained its strict adherence to a ban on nuclear tests that has also granted it a waiver by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to do trading in atomic energy.
India, on its part, had slowed down the pace of negotiations following the aftermath of Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011. Both sides last discussed the deal formally in November 2010. However, during in May both Prime Minister Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe decided to speed up the negotiations.
Japan is the only country in Asia that has undergone nuclear disasters many times before be it the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the recent earthquake that led to a severe accident in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Japanese energy companies are eagerly waiting for the deal as they see huge potential in helping India build nuclear plants where it will be competing with US and French suppliers.
A civilian nuclear pact between Japan and India is also vital given that Japanese companies have stakes in all US and French firms which would be setting up nuclear power plants in India, according to a report by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).